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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27084667">The Lion and the Lambs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbinredrobin/pseuds/bobbinredrobin'>bobbinredrobin</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ein_J/pseuds/Ein_J'>Ein_J</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Firefall Series - Peter Watts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 02:22:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,350</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27084667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbinredrobin/pseuds/bobbinredrobin, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ein_J/pseuds/Ein_J</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In any unclear situation, call a vampire for help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Lion and the Lambs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            A translation of

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26947015">The Lion and the Lambs</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helward_Mann/pseuds/Helward_Mann">Helward_Mann</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>DISCLAIMER:</b> Please note that the following is made for fun only. We all were doing it out of passion and not a desire to profit off of Dr. Watts' novel.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Isn't it dangerous?” the сolonel asked, trying to shout over the whirring of the helicopter's blades as it descended.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have no choice!”  the commander of the assault squad shouted back. “If she gets hurt, her father will be furious and the heads will roll!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The сolonel nodded and covered his eyes with his sleeve against the rising dust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>* * *</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire got out of the helicopter first. He was long and slender, with short-cropped blond hair, and even slightly slouching he towered over the others by a head. The upper half of his face was hidden by a nontransparent onyx visor. When he jumped to the ground, the people around him immediately moved apart, and he walked unhindered through the formed living corridor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The commander of the assault detachment, clearly nervous, shifted from foot to foot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were able to connect to the security cameras,” he began an introduction. “She's being held on the ground floor...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” the vampire interrupted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice was calm but confident, leaving no desire to argue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the men tried to hand him a gun, but the vampire refused with a short gesture and walked down the path to the abandoned house, a lone black figure in the middle of a wheat field.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beautiful, isn't it?”  someone said from above.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned and saw a lanky, gray-haired man who also vaguely reminded him of a vampire. Must be an escort, the colonel thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you a vampire expert?” he asked, to confirm his hunch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me?” asked the man, surprised. “No, I'm a marine biologist.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He paused and added, answering an unasked question:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just pulled the short straw this time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The colonel nodded and looked back at the field. The vampire had almost reached the building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You've never met a vampire before?”  the biologist asked. Obviously, he was bored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I haven't,” the colonel said honestly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think of </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Frankly, he doesn't look like a monster at all,” the colonel said. “I sometimes wonder if they really have to be kept in these… </span>
  <span>research facilities</span>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The biologist chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can tell someone who hasn't encountered a vampire. These creatures are incredibly smart and cunning. If we let them run free, we'll all be dead fast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This one doesn't look particularly friendly, but he doesn't look like a threat to humanity, either,” the colonel shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, if you think a vampire is nice, too bad for you. They can convincingly portray anything, but, in fact, do not feel an ounce of sympathy for people.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The colonel remembered his son and kept silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We're just meat to them,” the biologist continued. “The meat that their existence now depends on, by chance. But as soon as they feel our weakness and realize that they can attack without hindrance - believe me, they will not hesitate for a second.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How can you not be afraid to involve them in combat operations?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don't,” the biologist said. “Usually, vampires only do data processing. But </span>
  <em>
    <span>it</span>
  </em>
  <span> can be given any order, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>it</span>
  </em>
  <span> will obey. I don't know if </span>
  <em>
    <span>it</span>
  </em>
  <span> was created this way on purpose or if something was tweaked in the brain later...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They fell silent. The colonel turned back to the field, but the vampire was no longer in sight. Probably he was already inside the building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes I think we really shouldn't have kept them locked up,” the biologist admitted. “But it has gone too far now, and we can't just...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The silence was broken by a distant burst of automatic gunfire, the shattered glass rang, and the commander of the assault squad shouted, raising his men to attack.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>* * *</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, the colonel repeatedly reviewed the video from the surveillance cameras in slow motion, trying to understand what happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire calmly walked to the porch of the house and suddenly disappeared - at least, so it looked to those who followed the picture from the security cameras. The next time the camera caught him in the lobby, where two militants were on duty. When one of them turned away, the vampire dropped silently behind the other like a black shadow. Turning, the gunman saw only his comrade lying unconscious on the floor. He immediately grabbed for the holster on his belt and looked around helplessly - on the video, the colonel saw the vampire move easily, almost as if he was dancing behind him, all the time remaining in the blind zone. When the unfortunate man made a couple of turns around his axis, the vampire stepped up to him, wrapped his arms around the back of his neck, apparently pressing on some special point, and gently laid the limp body on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It all happened in complete silence - apparently the gunman was so paralyzed with fear that he didn't even think to scream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the image switched to a large, half-empty room. There were three of them. A woman was standing at the window, watching the area, another militant was sitting in a chair, and a third, with a machine gun at the ready, was standing next to a girl tied to a chair. The girl had a bag on her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire entered the room and stood silently in the middle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit,” the one in the chair muttered, as if trying to get as deep into it as possible. “Damn, damn, they sent a vampire...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We're leaving,” the woman said quickly. “Don't harm us, we're leaving.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She started to make her way along the wall to the exit, trying not to turn her back on him, but then the gunman standing next to the hostage lost his nerve.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Die, you beast!” he yelled, and raised the machine gun, firing at the spot where the vampire had been standing a split second ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowing the recording, the colonel saw him pull away from the gunfire, push off the wall in a superhuman leap, turn over in the air, and land behind the shooter. Trying to get the vampire, the man slashed the wall with a burst of fire, shooting his companion where she stood. In the next instant, the vampire grabbed him and snapped his neck with a precise, merciless movement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was all over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire walked over to the girl and carefully removed the bag from her head. </span>
  <span>Even the grainy footage couldn’t mask the way her face twisted with fear, when she saw the vampire. </span>
  <span>He immediately retreated, allowing people who broke into the house to act.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>* * *</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the bodies were taken out of the house and the living were brought out, the colonel returned to the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire sat on a concrete block and seemed to be lost in thoughts. The colonel thought that there was certainly something inhuman about him, but not predatory at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made up his mind and came closer. The vampire's sleeve was torn, but he didn't pay any attention to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You're hurt,” the colonel said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire looked at his hand as if seeing it for the first time in his life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just a scratch,” he said. “No blood”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The colonel went to the car to get the first-aid kit and put it next to the vampire. The predator nodded, pulled out a bandage and began to wrap his arm right over the sleeve.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then the colonel came up with the right comparison. The vampire looked like a beast, but not a tiger or a lion. Rather, a tamed elephant that obediently and patiently carries logs and lifts weights with its trunk on command. Or a dolphin playing with a ball in a dirty pool for the public amusement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don't like doing this at all, do you?”  the colonel asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire gave a small shrug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like solving problems,” he said. The colonel didn't know if it was an affirmative or a negative answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, the vampire finished with the bandage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jim Moore,” the colonel said, and held out his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The vampire turned his head. He seemed surprised for a moment, but then reached out a long, sinewy hand and squeezed his palm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jukka Sarasti,” he said.</span>
</p>
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